[sistergoldenhair]

I followed this for my past two marathons. It was very hard to eat so much more than I usually eat, and in the most recent one, I retained a lot of water from the carbohydrate increase which affected my running. Even with drinking extra fluids. My lower legs were pretty swollen and felt horrible/stiff.<br><br>
I know it works great for others, though. I will be at a loss next time I carbo-load. Not eating enough = hitting the wall, but true carbo-loading seems to give me water retention problems.<br><br>
Can a person practice carbo-loading before a long run? It seems like you can't really get a dress rehearsal for it, since you only do one run of the marathon distance in most programs.<br><br><b>kruss</b> -- is this your first marathon? If not, what did you do last time and how did it work? If it is your first, I'd suggest not making any drastic changes to your diet and then doing the carbo loading race week. I know some runners who perform great regardless of what they eat, and others who adhere to stricter eating plans because they feel it helps performance.

 

[sistergoldenhair]

meri, how would you change your methods if you were racing marathons? You go a lot farther, but get to eat more in your events!

 

[sistergoldenhair]

Is that the carb depletion followed by loading, or something else?

 

[sistergoldenhair]

One more thing and then I'll shut up. I'm not much of a drinker anyway, but I generally don't drink alcohol 1-2 weeks out from a marathon. I don't think there are any nutritional benefits to this (except possibly in the couple days before, depending on overall hydration), it's more of a mental thing.

 

[sistergoldenhair]

Hmm, maybe I should try that next time! But, would need to practice before each long run, of course.<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile"><br><br>
I definitely wasn't trying to say that alcohol limits performance for everyone. Someone who is more of a regular drinker than I am and who makes sure to hydrate to offset alcohol's dehydrating properties shouldn't feel much effect, if any.<br><br>
kruss -- I seem to be especially prone to water retention generally, so you'll probably be OK. One thing that I think would be helpful is to increase the carb-rich foods you eat regularly rather than experimenting with new things. If I remember, last time around I chose a few "foreign" items knowing how sick I was going to be of carbs over the couple days, which could have also been part of the problem.